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Hiring An Employee For The First Time

Thinking about hiring your first employee? Our helpful guide shows you the most important steps you’ll have to take as a new employer.

The Initial Stages

Once you’ve decided that you want to hire an employee, you’ll need to do a few things to get the hiring process going.

Write a detailed description of the job role on offer. This will help to give you an initial idea of what you’re looking for.

Determine how much you are willing to pay an employee. You must pay minimum wage at the very least but depending on how much experience and hard work is needed, you may want to set the rate of pay much higher. Research similar jobs if you want to get a better idea of pay scales.

Write the advert in full. Remember to include a section about the company, what the job entails, the experience needed to take on the role and company benefits.

Advertise the role on your chosen sites. Don’t just advertise on every single job site, as this can cause more admin problems for you. Instead, pick a select few that will give you exposure in the right areas.

Shortlist and interview your candidates. Choose a range of candidates that not only have adequate experience but that also show genuine passion for the role. During the interview, expand upon experience listed in their application but also get to know each candidate personally.

Check their eligibility to work in the UK. This is an important step, as failure to prove your employee can work in the UK may land you with a £20,000 fine. To find out what documents are accepted to prove eligibility, you can view this guide put together by the GOV.UK website.

You can now select your chosen candidate and offer them the job.

Next, we’ll look at what other employee checks may be necessary and what you now have to do as an employee.

Carrying Out Employee Checks

Alongside carrying out an eligibility to work in the UK check, you may also want to consider these other checks if your new employee is going to be working with young or vulnerable people.

Health checks – You can only ask for this if it’s essential for the job or if it’s a legal requirement.

DBS (criminal record) checks – Essential for those working with children or in the healthcare sector.

What You Have To Do As An Employer

Once you’re an employer, there are several things you must do before you can legally employ someone.

You’ll need to register with HMRC as an employer. You can find out how to do this on the HMRC

Sign up for PAYE as part of your payroll. There is some information that you will have to read and guidelines on how to do this can be found

Sign up for employer’s liability insurance to protect the health and safety of your new employee.